Hear the songs of the black nightingale

Random thoughts

2008-08-14T19:54:44Z

I hate bureaucracy. I really do.
Especially when you spend almost two weeks (okay, one week and a half, I spent the first days after my return from holidays resting on the terrace) with panicking, worrying and running from place to place in order to gain some information about what the hell exactly they are expecting me to do and trying to get those things done in a very short amount of time.
I'm not going to bore you with details, just that I almost had a complete nervous break-down at the physician today, when I finally gained all what I needed for a certificate that I am indeed perfectly healthy in order to go to Japan - and learned that the doctor's assistant made a mistake concerning my health insurance, this health insurance unfortunately being french (due to my studying in France) and me being currently in Germany. And that now I had to pay all by myself, but should send the bill to the health insurance agency in France. More money gone, more paperwork, YAY!
Fortunately, this is all over now for a while (until beginning of september, when I have to return to France in order to enter the Bureaucratic Hell That Is The Yearly Registration at my university. Plus a few special extra tasks that are giving my nightmares just by thinking about them...), the papers for Japan are (hopefully) filled in correctly and somewhere in a post-bag as we speak, but I still have to get used to the sudden lack of stress. I'm so going to sleep in tomorrow, that's the least I can do after those stupid papers totally ruined my plans to go to Berlin and see a friend this week, blergh!
Maybe I can finally resume writing my China report, if both Photobucket and my laptop are willing to let me do so that is, as they don't seem to like the common effort at all.~_~

On a more positive side, I finally managed to read Kyou kara Maou, the first novel!♥ I half expected a poor writing that would totally ruin the story for me, but although the author (or the translator) certainly won't win any prize for best writing style, it was nevertheless such a fun to read! Can't wait for the second part that I ordered today, I really hope they will deliver it on saturday so that I can have a good and relaxing read for the week-end.:D
By the way, I don't know whether this may sound completely elitist or whatnot, but now that I read the first book, I even like the novel best. I used to LOVE the anime (and still do of course) and although I don't know the manga yet except for the first chapter, both anime and manga suddenly make me wonder how I could understand a few details without having read the novel. Nothing spectacular of course, just a character or two that suddenly appear and do something with nothing but a vague hint at why they are here or why they are doing this and that. Have I already mentioned that I am looking forward to the next book? I should really catch up with the last OVAs I haven't seen yet and whether the next anime season has been released yet or not...

Well, in the meantime, I can still go back and finish reading that novel about Hieronymus Bosch, it's surprisingly good and kept me reading without getting bored for now. Which unfortunately has become a very rare occasion when it comes to books, although I still haven't been able to figure out whether it's just me being not that much interested in books as I used to be, or whether I have become way too picky for the writing style or plot.
A negative example of a book I always wanted to read but have to force myself for every single page I have to read: The Neuromancer trilogy. It's the mother of Cyberpunk, I know, and it's so much fun to recognize all the termini and ideas I learned when I played the Shadowrun roleplay, but the writing style?
Poor. Very poor. Although I give the benefit of doubt and admit that it might also be the translator's fault alone, as I have committed the ~~crime~~ error to buy the german version, back then when I still worked as a book seller and stumbled upon this novel in the shelves.
And for the third unfinished book I am reading, my second novel from Edogawa Ranpo in Japanese, I'm finally approaching the end!:D Still have a few chapters to read and totally happy whenever I have a vague clue about what's happening in there, but I can read most of it and that's clearly highly motivating!

Back from China

2008-08-02T17:28:38Z

Nihao you guys, did anyone miss me?♥
You might already have guessed that one, but Good Ol' Europe has me back since yesterday evening, and the first thing I have done when I arrived from the airport was to take a good and hot shower and have a very good and long sleep. 'Good sleep' like in 'The house in front of ours was burning and I didn't even wake up despite the many sirens of the fire-engines and ambulances in our street'.;>_> (Well, it didn't seem to be a serious fire, according to my parents there was just a little bit of smoke coming out from one window, but I hope that the people aren't hurt.) Fortunately, I don't seem to have any jet lag problems unlike my mother, but I still want to claim some time to recover a little, which means books/manga and deckchairs and our terrace and a nice drink and hopefully some sunshine!<3 ~~Except that it was raining this afternoon, which is why I'm currently in my armchair with my laptop on my knees instead of being lazy outside ~_~~~

In a nutshell? China was great!♥ Or more exactly, my general impression was really good and I liked my holidays there a lot, but I couldn't ignore a few factors that I strongly disliked as well. I'm going to write a more detailed report soon and sort the pictures my mom made, with all the squees and rants of course!

In the meanwhile... did I miss anything important ? I had a look at my emails only three times in the last three weeks, but as I couldn't log in my livejournal (I could barely even access livejournal at all, stupid chinese internet!), I didn't really try to read my friendslist and won't know whether one of you found your True Love, or Livejournal finally completely broke apart or whether I missed the wank of the century in one of my fandoms. I'll try to catch up in the next few days, but I don't know how much I will manage to comment on old entries. *sigh*

Okay, and now I'm going to catch up with the latest Bleach and Naruto chapters, and they'll better not disappoint me!:D

AFK

2008-07-11T13:18:16Z

The time has come, I will be away from keyboard for three weeks beginning from this evening. I got my visa for China from the consulate in Frankfurt without any problems on wednesday (grmbl why couldn't it be that easy in Paris as well?), my suitcase is almost ready (and much emptier than I had ever dared to hope, wheeee!\^-^/), the only thing I haven't done in the week I spent in Germany was to kick my ass and finish with all the paperwork and contracts I had to resolve because of my moving away from France. *facepalm* But nevermind, I'll have to do that in august, I'm already used to do this kind of thing waaay to late...;>_>

But in all honesty? I haven't realized yet that I'm going to China this very evening. I guess that's because I almost haven't done anything to prepare our trip except than to buy the plane tickets for me and my mum, my brother has to take care of finding youth hostels and hotels and to plan how we're going from place A to place B, and my mum was the one who has been reading the Lonely Planet for weeks now. Hell, I didn't even learn more than about four words of Chinese, I have never been that lazy to organize a trip for years now!
But oh well, nevermind, I'm just going to follow my brother and my mother wherever they want to go and I'm even perfectly happy with that. It seems that even my brain has grown lazy, while my feet are fine and ready to walk for hours when needed. *shrugs* Anyway, I may not realize yet that I'm going to leave in about three hours, but I'm already overly curious for the food and the sightseeing, even though I'm a bit uneasy not to have at least a very basic conversational knowledge. But my brother speaks Chinese fluently by now and I hope that my fading knowledge of japanese kanji (after one month of sheer laziness) will help me not to feel like a complete analphabet.:-\

And while I'm at it, I'm happy I have been able to read the last Naruto and Bleach chapters before I leave:
Right now, I love the last Naruto chapters! Okay, the code was a real deception last week, but I'm so so happy that Naruto will train with Pa and Ma for now, and I'm so much looking forward to Pein's and Naruto's meeting!♥
Team Hawk on the other hand... I should have a closer look whether they were allowed to finally use that sexy nailpolish with their brandnew Akatsuki coats, I'd be really disappointed otherwise. I mean, wtf are those coats with hoods supposed to be, they should wear hats. Hats! With those teeny tiny bells. The point being? They just don't look like real Akatsuki to me. I won't even start to rant about Sasuke following Madara's wishes/orders like they were the ultimate truth on earth, but those altered cloaths they just look like Akatsuki's lackeys to me. Special enough to wear those stylish red clouds on black cloath, but not important enough to be part of the real thing. Gaaah! I hope the eight-tails will kick Hawk's asses HARD! And more Pein and Konan plzzzz, and don't forget about Zetsu, me likes Zetsu!♥
(Also a special kind of funny: The little wanks amongst ShikaTema fans concerning Shiho. *g* I like ShikaTema, I wouldn't have friended their community otherwise, but to feel threatened by just another random female character with a caricatural girly crush seems a bit pointless to me. But then, just like Bleach, I can't see any important pairings become canon in Naruto either, ShikaTema included (although they might be the most likely one to become canon, they are a bit like Asuma/Kurenai after all...))

Bleach on the other hand, can that chapter be any more disappointing? Honestly, I couldn't care less about how Ichigo rushes to save everybody's favorite ~~damsel in distress~~ princess and how many baddies he has to kick on the way, and to think about Renji/Chad/Rukia's sudden recovery and how the hell they managed to catch up with Ichigo's mad Bankai Speed Of Doom gives me a headache, as beautiful as all that friendship stuff wanted to be. And I think I'm going to puke in a bucket if there's going to be a classical Ichigo vs Ukelala fight, we've had that kind of certainly most thrilling fights before ad nauseam, thank you very much. Especially if Hime's going to watch without raising a little finger. Dammit, I used to like Orihime, but if the only thing she can do is stare Ulquiorra right in the eye and babble about friendship and hearts and whatnot and she won't do anything on her own, then I might change my mind about liking her. I love Bleach because there are such great female characters, but really, I want Orihime to find her fighting will again and finally kick some asses!
And then I want to see Halibel's fight. Forget Ukelala, plz be showing other captains and Halibel again?;_; And if I ever see Unohana and Yachiru fighting, I will die a very happy person!<3

Okay, have to go now and finish to pack my suitcase, have a nice july and your perfect weather of your choice, see you back in august!♥

whine

2008-06-25T13:06:00Z

Five days before my moving back to Germany.
Also known as the begin of the "Oh leave me alone with all this paper-warfare, will you?"-stage.
When I go to the administration center of my university with nothing more in mind than to inform them of my change of address and I ask them by the way whether they have taken into account that I will stay for a year in Japan (like I told them in january already), I am not happy to see their eyes widen and ask me why I tell them this important news this late and why I haven't filled out this one paper already. Especially when this one paper needs the signature of the responsible professor for my (future) Master's degree and this prof probably isn't anywhere near Paris for the moment. And when I will send her an email with my request, this prof very likely won't be impressed by my handling of stuff in time.
So you ask why I haven't done all of this yet? Well, how should I phrase it properly, maybe because you - precisely the same person "you" - didn't mention anything in that direction when I told you in january? You merely told me that you would write a post-it - which you did in my very presence - and stick it on my file. And lo, the post-it in question was still there, neatly stuck at my file, when you checked it today. Too bad that this isn't easy enough for your average red tape requirements, now is it?

*facepalm*

Then I realized today that I will have to return to France for a day or two probably on 8th july in order to get all the paperwork done for my registration in my french university for next year in person and on the spot, relying on a registration by (traditional) mail will be too much of a nightmare compared to spending about 150€ for a day-trip to Paris, as much as I'd wished to spend those 150€ in a more pleasant way. At least I can live the nightmare on the spot and hopefully get all things done once and for all instead of worrying for weeks and months whether my mail was delivered without problems or whether I will get the reply on time or not. And staying in France for one more week will be a bit difficult as I still need a visa for China, which I need to request in Germany. ~~And I'd love to spend my birthday with my family in Germany instead of an empty and furnitureless room, but that's entirely another matter.~~ I just hope that I will be able to take the first train in the morning and return home in the afternoon and that I don't need to stay for a night. *sigh*
Can I just close my eyes and hope for a miracle, that when I open them again everything will be fine and done without any more effort or gratuitous worrying?

That, and several other details that require too much time and too many nerves and that could be so much simpler right from the beginning if only I had the right information on time, without the unnerving "What, you didn't know...?" when I wonder how the hell I am supposed to know without any clairvoyant skills!

Nah, at least I'm also having a good time with my friends, that helps a lot to stay at least a little bit calm and to enjoy my last days here. Thanks again to randomaicoholic, bluemchenblatt and souzoukyuuketsu for respectively the pita, the crèpes, the pizza and the gaming day (Kingdom Hearts is LOVE, and for FF7, Zach/Cloud still makes me cry despite teh pretty ;_;). I love you guys, and I'll miss you!♥
This evening I'll gladly enjoy tex-mex food instead of the green peas and sausages I had for lunch for two days now (what, did you never try to mix the last rests in your fridge in order to obtain a vaguely eatable meal?), tomorrow will be cooking salmon lasagna with my japanese tandem partner and then... who knows. Even this evening seems so distant from now, especially when I consider wearily all the stuff I still have to do before taking a merited shower to wash off all the sticky sweat from this heat and finally call it a day.

Oh please, make this last week end quickly now, I'm so weary of this stuff already!

Blaa blabla blaaa bla bla

2008-06-16T16:25:36Z

Heute geht der Gen-vs.-Kink-Battle auf ficathon_de zuende, und ehrlich gesagt, ich habe irgendwo auf der Strecke vollkommen aufgegeben da noch irgendwas zu schreiben. Und das aus verschiedenen Gründen, sei es meine fünftägigen Kopfschmerzen in der ersten Woche, wo ich es kaum vor dem Computer ausgehalten habe, oder das wirklich LANGersehnte schöne Wetter danach, in der ich nur einen Wunsch hatte, und zwar mich nach all dem Stress seit September ins Gras zu legen und mir die Sonne auf den Bauch scheinen zu lassen.
Oder ich derzeit generell so eine große Lust habe aus meinem Zimmer zu kommen, die letzten Tage in meiner Lieblingsstadt zu genießen oder ein wenig mit Freunden auszugehen.
Oder meine Schreibkomplexe zwischendurch, wo ich mich kaum traue irgendwas auf Deutsch zu schreiben weil alles so schleeeecht ist! (Nein, inzwischen geht's wieder einigermaßen, auch wenn ihr mich garantiert nicht zum letzten Mal darüber jammern hören werdet)
Oder weil ich irgendwann Ende letzter Woche auf die Erkenntnis gekommen bin, dass ich mich einfach nicht dazu durchquälen konnte etwas dazu zu schreiben, obwohl ich mir am Anfang voller Begeisterung darauf gefreut hatte den Gen-Teil zuzuspammen und irgendwo auf meiner Festplatte noch eine halbfertige DN-Ficlet rummodert.

Eine Erkenntnis kommt aber bekanntlich nicht allein, und so war meine zweite Erkenntnis, dass ich meine halbe Schreibblockade (halb wegen den Ausdrucksschwierigkeiten und nicht etwa wegen mangelden Ideen ~_~) nicht damit bekämpfen kann, dass ich ultrakurze Ficlets schreibe. Ehrlich gesagt, mich NERVT das Wortlimit wie sonst kaum etwas, obwohl ich zu anderen Zeiten liebend gerne mal Drabbles schreibe. Und obwohl 700undpaargequetschte > 100, fand ich es jedes Mal so schrecklich mit angenagten Fingernägeln die ständig steigende Wortzahl zu überprüfen. Das mag zu anderen Zeiten kein Problem für mich sein, aber derzeit, nach einer monatelangen, ach was, fast jahrelangen Schreibpause, wo ich nur zwischendurch hier und da ein paar Sätze geschrieben habe, war das wohl einfach der falsche Zeitpunkt für mich.
(Was die Frage mit sich ziehen könnte, wann denn der richtige Zeitpunkt wäre, wenn ich denn schonmal zwei Wochen lang einfach nur FERIEN habe und nicht für irgendeine Prüfung lernen muss, aber zuviel darüber nachzudenken gibt mir Kopfschmerzen und macht mich nur emo, also lasse ich es einfach bleiben ;>_>)

Naja, dafür habe ich einfach kurzerhand beschlossen, dass ich mir ein paar Tage Urlaub von sämtlichen Schreibverpflichtungen gebe und einfach mal das schreibe, wozu ich Lust habe, habe sämtliche Zweifel über Bord geworfen, ob ich jemals wieder ein Plotbunny in Romanlänge fertigschreiben werde und habe mit meinem Bleach-Monstrum angefangen, das mich seit mindestens einem halben Jahr bis in den Schlaf verfolgt. Und siehe da, keine Wortzahleinschränkungen, keine Vorgaben, kein gar nichts außer den Szenen, die ich schon millionenmal vor meinem inneren Auge ablaufen gesehen habe, und es macht wieder Spaß!!!*___*
Ok, bei dem Schneckentempo mit dem ich schreibe werde ich bestimmt nicht vor 30 Jahren fertig werden, ich muss gelegentlich immer noch diverse Online-Wörterbücher öffnen, weil mir ein bestimmtes Wort entweder auf Englisch oder Französisch oder beide zusammen, aber nicht auf Deutsch einfällt, aber egal, ES. MACHT. SPASS! Und das ist meiner Meinung nach die Hauptsache.
Zumindest für mich. Es war wirklich so lange her, dass ich ständig Lust bekomme mein gutes altes Wordpad-Dokument zu öffnen und weiterzuschreiben, weil ich es kaum abwarten kann die Szenen, die mir schon seit Ewigkeiten im Kopf rumspuken endlich auf ~~Papier~~ Textdatei zu bringen, und ich schätze genau das ist der Grund, warum ich lange Plots schon immer viel spannender fand als One-Shots und warum ich da immer mit mehr Begeisterung dabei bin. (Auf der anderen Seite schlummern inzwischen mehrere Fics mit 20.000 oder gar 50.000 Wörtern herum, die ich wohl nie zu Ende bringen werde, aber egal...;>_>)

(Und ja, ich weiß, dass ich noch ein zwei Fics unbedingt fertig schreiben muss, weil ich sie irgendwann während der letzten Sinnflut versprochen habe, und nein, ich vergesse sie nicht ~~schon allein weil die mir auch seit dem Tag an dem ich sie versprochen habe ständig vorwurfsvoll im Hinterkopf herumspuken ._.~~, aber... irgendwie ist es mir derzeit wichtiger überhaupt wieder meine Schreiblust wiederzuentdecken, die mir irgendwann im Laufe meines Studiums fast völlig abhanden gekommen ist. Wenn ihr meinen persönlichen Rat hören wollt, wenn ihr wirklich niemals nie das Schreiben aufgeben oder verlernen möchtet, sucht euch niemals ein Studium aus, bei dem ihr ständig eine konstant hohe Menge an Arbeit vor euch liegen habt, das macht einem echt so viele Hobbies madig. *rant*)

[/sinnloses Geschwätz Ende]

So, und nu muss ich mal schauen, dass ich noch ein wenig das Papierchaos in meinen Schubladen aufräume, nachdem ich gestern erfahren habe, dass meine Mutter nicht irgendwann nächste Woche, sondern dieses Wochenende kommt um mit meinem Umzug anzufangen!o_o Und dann schau ich mal, wie weit ich heute abend mit dem Schreiben kommen werde...:D

bf_nightingale @ 2008-06-11T22:37:00

2008-06-11T21:08:07Z

I HAVE MY LICENCE, I HAVE IT I HAVE IT!!!

Licence = degree after 3 years of university in France, and the first university degree that has some real value, in case you were wondering.

It's not that good as I had hoped it to be, I have one exam of the fifth semester (comprehension and conversation) that I didn't pass, but with the new rules at my university and the possibilities to compensate those marks, I still have my first degree!:D And now I just need to get a LOT better in order to have a chance to get my master's degree, I got 11something points for both the fifth and sixth semester (10 points out of 20 were needed) and I need at least 12 (from 20) to get the master's degree. But oh well, it's annoying that I didn't get better marks than that this year, but I partly blame the exam questions as well, they have really been a bitch to us especially this semester and it seems like a LOT of people didn't pass them at all. And those who did don't seem to have generally great results either, except for a few selected good students of course.

Aaaaaah, imagine my sigh of relief that I don't have to pass any more exams in june anymore. I'm still disappointed at the results in general, but hey, I have been mentally prepared to have failed at least the two grammar exams and I got them alright. Not good, but alright. Now the only exam that I failed is the comprehension exam (once again), but I don't think this shows my real skills at all. There has been a big tumult with the students about that one because it was so very above our current level (plus the fact that the interpreter course had already analyzed two of four questions) until the prof in charge finally promised to eliminate one of the four questions. Better than nothing, although the degree of difficulty was still very much unfair. But eh, at least I did well with the conversation exam which balances my bad comprehension mark, which means that I somehow passed every exam in the end!:D

Wooot! And now, I don't know how I can enjoy this conveniently. I already went to see Indy 4 this evening with souzoukyuuketsu, but maybe I will also enjoy a good glass of Orange Malibu, maybe with a little bit of Blue Curaçao and a cocktail cherry on top. And I have still one orange left, I could use that and a slice of kiwi as decoration...>_> *starts to drool*
Okay, a little cocktail it is then. Cheers!♥

About writing and my current inability to do that exactly

2008-06-10T20:35:11Z

Can someone please explain me why I always feel suddenly completely exhausted and more than ready for a good sleep whenever I think, okay, let's start writing again. It's terribly unnerving! I want to write again, I really do, but either it's too sunny for me to want to be stuck in front of the computer by day, or the weather is perfect to stay indoors and watch DVDs, read and write all day long but my headaches and an annoying twitching eye keep me from it, or I suddenly want to fall asleep whenever I have the time to write in the evening.>_<

I know I know, it's been so much time since I had the time (and used it) to write for long and a lot and to simply be productive, and while I don't really think this is a typical writer's block right now, I guess I just have to fall into writing mode again and I won't be able to stop then. But somehow... I don't know where to start. I wrote a short ficlet for The Last Unicorn for the Gen vs. Kink challenge on ficathon_de last week to find the writing mood again, and it certainly was very inspiring and a lot of fun, but I can't push myself again to actually sit down, leave the Minesweeper game alone, open a document, still leave Minesweeper alone, and then start writing. And to stop several hours later because I suddenly realize that it's past three in the morning already.

It's not that I'm lacking ideas though. I have at least two fics I still have to write (and one to translate) for people, one of the To-Write fics almost finished, there are still a lot of interesting prompts over at ficathon_de that shouldn't use too much energy either, and let's not mention my older WIP-novels for Detective Conan and the two new novel-lenght plunnies for Bleach and Naruto I'd be very eager to write if it were not for the fear that oh noes, not another epic novel I'm never going to actually finish.

Maybe that's the problem, that I'm unconsciously too afraid to even start something new. Or I'm just not good at prompts, although I really love them once in a while. Or I'm just searching for pretexts, and oh, did I really start another Minesweeper game in the meanwhile? Oh crap, a bomb! Well, just one more game and I'll start with something more productive. Uh, I mean, another game after that one I just blew up! And another game. And another game after that game. And that one still didn't really count as the "last game" either, my hand slipped and I didn't really mean to click that field after all...

Aaaarrrgh! But then, there's also just the fact that I'm sometimes way too happy to find fics with the pairings or general idea I intend to write that are possibly sooo much better than I will ever be able to do and I wonder why I should even bother to try. *sigh* Maybe I can only really kick myself to start writing when I'm so desperate that there aren't any fics like those I want to have, and until I can still find fics that please my tastes, I won't write anything. Maybe that's why I have been able to write that much and fast and eagerly in the Conan fandom way back then, when I still didn't know about the english fandom and I seemed to know every single german DC yaoi fic and 95% of them were utter crap. Maybe there are too many "good" fanfics in my new fandoms so that I don't feel like I can really do something great on my own. ~~Uh, well, ok, scratch that, I found surprisingly quite a neat number of good Naruto fics, but I haven't been able to find that many excellent Bleach fics yet.~~ Maybe. Or maybe I'm just searching for excuses because I currently have minority complexes concerning my fading expression and grammar skills in German. *le sigh*

[/pointless entry]

bf_nightingale @ 2008-06-08T22:16:00

2008-06-08T21:37:13Z

Not even one month left until I will leave Paris and France and return to Germany, even though it's only for a very short period of time until the next destination, Tôkyô, Japan. And as much as I'm looking forward to Japan, I realize more and more that I will miss this city very much.
It's been a week now that I finished with my exams (unless I have some more end of june, but I won't know probably before wednesday) and somehow I noticed the urge in me to enjoy those last three weeks here as much as I can, to a certain extent much to the chagrin of my currently rather empty bank account.
First thing, food! I think I have never had that much cheese in my fridge at the same time as I have now, it's as if I'm desperately trying to get sick of it before I'll miss it when I'll leave France. Ok, you can have cheese in Germany as well, but it's absolutely not comparable to french cheese, often even when it involves the exact same product. It's so hard to find really good cheese in Germany, and let's not even talk about Japan where I seem to be able to consider myself lucky when I can find a totally over-expensive slice of cheese if what I heard is right? I think I might also go all cliché and allow myself a fresh croissant in the morning once in a while although I can count the occasions on the fingers of one hand how many times I've done so until now, and most of them involve guests staying at my place for the night. Oh, and the baguette of my favorite bakery of course, although I'm on the other hand looking forward to have some german bread again soon. (That and quite a lot of things I'm suddenly buying at the supermarket that I rarely or never bought before, as if I had to try new things out in record time before I'll leave this country. I almost feel a little silly for that one. Almost. But not quite yet.)
Second thing, the city itself. I know it's becoming ridiculous just how much I fangirl Paris, I know the capital is anything but popular amongst "real" French because of various reasons (and some of them I even understand, although most of them don't bother me that much) and I know just as well that my quarter is considered as far too bourgeois to be appreciated by most people I know, but still, I love it so much. I just love to walk through the streets, my head up high to look at all those beautiful buildings, and every time I discover a new street, I rarely miss an occasion to find another hidden gem of architecture. And then I forget to check the pavement and my feet go all SPLASH when I step into one of the billions of dog turds.~_~ Well, no, not really, but only because I've been incredibly lucky until now, no thanks to the in this case indeed very bourgeois people who are too rich and too delicate to take care of the little souvenirs of their precious lap dogs by themselves.;>_> One day, I swear, I will buy a really good camera, learn how to use it properly and go on one photo-safari after another in this city. Seriously!
Well, no thanks to the great[/sarcasm] weather this week (and the resulting very much unwelcome but very much persistent headaches and total loss of energy that even made the ridiculously short distance to the fridge to an exhausting hiking tour), this was finally the first day that was nice enough to grab a book, a bottle of water and package of biscuits and go to the little park that I discovered only a few days ago, although I've seen it from the distance for years now. This park? One of the gems I was talking about earlier. Not exactly in the sense of an old and respectful facade of a building, and it probably sounds really lame and boring in any other context, but this park is surrounded by normal modern apartment buildings with balconies. The thing is, considering the prices of any properties here, especially in that quarter, the fact that there are only rarely real balconies where you can sit, eat, relax, whatever and especially that most of the building here have a magnificent view on the other buildings wall in front of them instead of a calm and very green family park, it was literally love on first sight as soon as I saw this place! And besides that the park has a very nice design, unlike other parks where you may be allowed to step on the lawns but you're often not too sure whether it's not just merely tolerated, this one seems to be encouraging children and people and whoever wants to play or read or sleep on the grass!
And lo, that's exactly what I have done today. Lie around on the grass, watch the children playing ~~and pray that I won't be attacked by balls of various sizes and degrees of pain delivering~~, read my book, watch the clouds and just enjoy the moments when the sun breaks through. Is there any better thing in life than that? I don't think so.♥

Well, one week is over and I haven't done anything at all. I've met two friends, I've been talking with a few others on the phone, but except for that the only thing I've done was to lazy around on my bed (no, not in the bed, probably the only thing I achieved to do) and to hate my headaches and the twitching left eye I've had for almost five days. But the ~~fun~~lazy times are over now, I've still got a lot of things to do! I have to go the chinese consulate this week to apply for a visa, I have to get ready mentally to fight for what I want and need at my french bank (a new credit card, although they won't deliver them before october as I know them, not to mention that I'll probably have to come and fetch it by myself like last time, whether I'm in Japan or not ~_~), cancel my phone contracts, make some serious cleansing in The Stuff that I hide in my drawers and cupboards so as not to have to think of them.... and so on and so forth. And, uhm, I think I have also several comments and mails to reply to (I'm sooo sorry for that), fics to finish, kanji to relearn, some basic Chinese (for my trip) to start to learn... uh, well, busy times, eh?

And sorry, not beta-read, because I'll fall like a stone in my bed right away. Good night ~♥ *snorezzzZZZZZZ*

bf_nightingale @ 2008-06-01T11:42:00

2008-06-01T11:02:56Z

Happy Birthday aera_chan!♥

...Ähm, nachträglich. Tut mir Leid, dass ich gestern nicht mehr dazu kam. ._. Ich hoffe du hast schön gefeiert? (Sehr praktisch, sein Geburtstag mal an einem Samstag zu haben :))

Other than that, I finally caught up with the last two chapters of Naruto. ...WTF Sasuke??!!!

Okay, I already stared at the last chapters with my jaw dropped at the Saint Itachi thing. Because, "Saint Itachi", oh come on, this is just so very very wrong in so many ways, and I don't care whether he finally really loved his little brother or not. Seriously, if this is his way of showing love, then I'd prefer Itachi hated me. His hate involves a lot less pain than his love, even for those who didn't receive the honor to get killed at once, Kakashi for example got "only" mind-raped once after all, unlike Itachi's "beloved little brother".Oo;
But even though Itachi never was my favorite character and I went all WHAT??? at his many many fangirls who were all ecstatic over his sudden holiness ("I always knew it! I always knew it!11" - Uhm, suuuure...), a few character interpretations that somehow matched with my own subconscious ideas of him made me find his new character development a lot more interesting - and even more evil. I can bear with that, I love villains with a really twisted and fucked up mind.♥

Sasuke on the other hand... is a lot more difficult to figure out for me whether I like him or not. I have never been a big Sasuke fangirl right from the start, although I will admit that he grew a lot to me once he began to open up thanks to mainly Naruto's doing. I cursed at his new asshole behavior at the final Chuunin exam fights. I hated his new old emo!bitch behavior even more when he finally ran away to Pedo-nin.
Is it weird to say that I was really glad that one new character appeared that I disliked even more than Sasuke? "Unfortunately", Sai made some real effort to earn some sympathies. Some of them are hilarious funny because of their fail, but at least he tries. And I can't really dislike someone who really tries hard to develop towards the bright side of the tunnel. Hey, most of them even got a secure place in my list of top favorite characters, like Gaara, Sakura, Neji! Sai isn't exactly near that list yet (mostly because of his rather creepy fixation on penises and especially Naruto's Oo;), but, uhm, yeah, "yet".
Too bad for Sasuke that whenever he sees even one little ray of light, he runs off in the opposite direction.~.~ Except for one single moment of shock when I realized that I disliked Sasuke more than Sai after all, I finally thought that I may not like Sasuke as a person, but I liked him as a character. Same as for Itachi, I love totally fucked-up characters, that's obviously my inner fanfic writer that sheds little tears of joy about oooh the potential!♥
But W-T-F?! Chapter 402, Team Hawk, Sasuke and his flower-power Mangekyou Sharingan, and especially DESTROY KONOHA??? You, Sasuke, are a very special kind of Fail, no love from me, plzdiekthnxbye. Fucked-up characters, oh hell yeah, I LOVE mindfuck. But that is way beyond acceptable. I won't go into details as there are a lot of people in chuunin who have worded their speechlessness about good ol' uncle Madara who only wants the best for his dear little nephew way better than I ever could and I'd feel just like I'd copy their words, but yeah. I don't know anymore where the "genius" in Sasuke's description comes from when he doesn't even feel capable of thinking his new life goal over for a second or two. Because let's admit for a second that Itachi really wanted to protect his brother after all, and protect him from Madara as well, this probably had some sort of good reason you'd think...;>_>
Oh Naruto, I still hope you'll find an occasion to beat your ex-boyfriend some sense into his thick, thick skull, and then that you'll find someone worthier of your trust and loyalty than him, like Gaara. Or Neji. Or Sakura. And Sakura, I haven't seen you weeping over your lost crush since the time-skip now, I hope you got over him and won't hesitate to assist Naruto with his beating-up with your scary fist of yours, you know Sasuke needs it. From a strictly medical point of view, of course. And then, please go and date Lee or Naruto please, because the house on the hill with a white fence and dog and kids? Not likely going to happen with Sasuke, no really.:-\

Okay, and now I have to read the last Bleach chapters as well, I need to know what happened to ~~Division "Sleeveless" 9~~ Kensei!<3

Reeeeeeeeeeeeee!♥

2008-05-30T15:47:55Z

First exam session: DONE!!!

And while the first exams were nothing but a disaster (for almost everyone, thanks to particularly *coughs* clever *coughs* questions and a difficulty level far above our current skills, not to mention the kanji that we weren't supposed to know for this current exam session), I'm quite happy (happyhappyHAPPY!!!11♥) with the last ones! \^-^/ Oh, I don't know about the results yet, "quite happy" certainly doesn't equal "perfect" after all, but at least those last ones can't be that awful, and for the others, they'll simply have to be nice to us if they don't want to see 90% of their students on the second exam session day (and have to correct all of those exams over again). *g*

I have one more immediate comprehension exam on monday, but I don't care for now as I'm going on my own free will in order to get a better mark, as I heard about those weird new exam regulations today. (Why yes, my university IS the epitome of chaos, why do you ask?) More details may be added tomorrow, for now I'm going to take a quick shower and party tonight!<3

Any recs for mp3-players anyone?

2008-05-16T15:44:55Z

Okay, I guess I need your help - again. You don't happen to have any recommendations for mp3-players, do you? I know it sounds weird and awfully retarded, but I don't have an mp3-player yet - or more exactly the one I got as a present once never worked at all.~_~ And except for long trips in the train or plane or wherever else, I never felt like I desperately needed one until now, I haven't been in that walk-around-with-earplugs-for-24/7-per-week-phase since high school ~~where the cool kids still had Discmen~~ after all. But now I have been fancying for one for a while now - and funnily enough, the main reason why I want one NOW is because of my comprehension exam on friday next week. And I feel desperate for listening to japanese radio shows, radio dramas, whatever, for as much time as I can afford now, and staying near my laptop (my only source for music for years) isn't a serious option comprehension-wise. (And of course, I wouldn't mind listening to music as well as soon as that exam is over...;))

When I want a new electronic toy, I want a really good one, no less. Especially because, yeah, I did mention that the last USB-stick mp3-player never worked at all, don't want to risk that again. I'm currently fancying the ipod nano because a friend of mine told me that other players often weren't able to display Chinese (or Japanese) characters, and although my japanese (or chinese. or anything not roman letters involving) playlist isn't exactly that big yet, but it might grow a lot beginning from september after all. And ipod nano because I was under the impression that ipod shuffle doesn't display anything at all...?
Do you possibly have any alternatives you can warmly recommend me, or is ipod not only scarily popular ~~and expensive~~ but teh very best indeed? Any kind of help or personal rec is very welcome as I want to go shopping tomorrow at the latest.:-\

T.E.A.M. = Toll, Ein Anderer Macht's

2008-05-08T08:56:02Z

...or in English: "Great, Someone Else Is Doing The Work".

Which is why I don't like the kind of work you're supposed to do as a team, especially not if your final mark depends exclusively on your common effort. And you're stuck with a team member that you have to remind multiple times in two weeks that he shouldn't forget about the translation we have to turn in next week on tuesday at the latest! Which is an awful lot of work because this translation is in the first place a transcription of a short video, where the guy who is talking not only uses a broad variety of honorific language (yes, in Japanese of course), which is always difficult to understand per se, but also speaks like it were a speed contest. And my wonderful partner hasn't even begun yet while I'm waiting for weeks to compare my transcription with his so that I can finally begin with the translation.

And for another translation we have done several months ago and we have to improve and correct before handing it in, I realize that not only hasn't he corrected that many former mistakes, but that his style, grammar and spelling are simply horrifying, and I'm saying this as a person who isn't exactly perfect in French either! Huzzah for correcting both of our versions to create a final common translation!

Why, yes, I am frustrated, why do you ask?

And no, this entry doesn't have any other purpose than to vent a little of my anger because I don't have the time to go outside and kick some innocent tree trunks today.~_~

AAAAAH! dances the Happy Dance

2008-04-23T17:11:43Z

This is not true, this can't be true, this is way too good to be true! I checked the website of the Baphomet's Fluch/Broken Sword/Les Chevaliers de Baphomet fan game out of pure boredom to check on their progress, and what do I read in the news? Another fan game, Zak McKracken 2: Between Time and Space has been finished four days ago!

Zak McKracken. Zak McKracken! IT'S ZAK MCKRACKEN!!!1111:DDDDDDD *bounces around like a super ball*

Don't anyone dare to say that they don't know Zak McKracken, otherwise I'd feel very old. THIS IS PART OF MY SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH, DAMMIT!!! *shakes fist* And when I think that it has only been a week or two ago when I talked about our first pc games with some friends and we became all nostalgic about Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, Simon the Sorcerer, Monkey Island and last but not least Zak McKracken. Aaah, the good ol' days, when pc games were still pixelized but had so much more spirit than their 3D sequels like Monkey Island 4...^__^

But why, why are they taunting me with that game now when my exams start in mid-May??? This is so not fair!;__; *starts downloading anyway* And if only I had a microwave, I would SO put an egg in it right now, just for the fun to watch how it explodes!

bf_nightingale @ 2008-04-19T13:47:00

2008-04-19T11:58:16Z

Just a random thought: Cooking is fun!:D

Not for everyday of course, but sometimes, when I want to relax a little and simply take the time to make something different than your average daily food, it's really fun to prepare all the little extras to pour them together in the end, no matter how much time that takes and how many dishes I have to clean afterwards. And then, the best part, is to set the table, pour yourself a nice aperitif, while the salmon and spinach lasagna bubbles in the oven and your whole room smells nice. It's the first time I make myself a salmon lasagna and I can't wait to know whether it's tasty or not.^__^
Like my aunt told me, cooking can be relaxing. Especially because you use all of your five (or maybe even six) senses: your hands of course, your eyes, but also your nose, your tongue and your ears (to listen whether the water is boiling, if the food in your stove seems to bubble too much and therefor you need to reduce the heat...) I'm not really a good cook yet, and I almost never came to cook for anyone else than myself before, but I'm looking forward to have - one day - a real kitchen with all the place and tools I need to invite lots of people and to cook for them.^__^

That's all. My lasagna is ready. Have a nice day, and thank your for your attention.:D

Your average Naruto fangirling

2008-04-18T08:24:45Z

That's it I guess. I'm now officially into holidays, for two weeks.
Well, to be honest, I haven't done anything for uni for a while now, especially this week where I struggled anytime I had any homework to do and got done nothing at all in the end, plus I missed a few classes and went to uni only to meet with my tandem partner. Partly because I'm still sort of ill (still trying to break through without getting really ill after all, this is so tiresome!), partly because I didn't have any motivation left. But that's okay, my program for today is to clean up my room, do the laundry and maybe some cooking, and then movies, Naruto, writing fanfics, going out for the walk, sleep as much as I want... you name it, and this for the whole week-end.♥ And I won't even think of my homework! WOOT!
I suppose I'll go into exam mode anytime soon though to catch up all the work I haven't finished those past weeks, but that's also okay. That will mean less time on the internet and the such, but I hope a stricter working schedule will motivate me for the exams that will begin in mid-may, everything will be fine!:)

I finished watching the Orichimaru-attacks-Konoha-arc yesterday evening, and this is so much more fun when you can watch several episodes of this arc on one day! Last time I watched Naruto on tv, I got totally despaired with the Hokage fight because it was the Fight That Would Never End. Rrraaahhh. I don't know how many episodes that one lasted, but when you try not to forget every day that you have to switch on your tv at six o'clock every day, never mind for mondays when I had classes until seven, and then this fight would last for more than a week... this is no fun. Uh, well, ok, this is fun, but the frustrating part was way more important than the fun fun part! Uh, you still with me?^^;
And one more comment about tv Naruto... I'm so glad that for once, the french version wasn't all too bad in my opinion. The voices were imho totally ok (unlike a specific series about a shrunken detective where I wanted to throw my tv out of my window at the latest when I heard a specific drunk and totally incompetent detective talk...) and I can't remember having been as bwuh? about missing logic or white blood or shurinken or, uhm, whatever, compared to the german version where they create a sort of parallel series where nobody ever dies and no blood is shed and nobody gets hurt at all. Seriously folks, how did they manage to show a few nasty episodes where even I flinched a little (main actors: Orochimaru, Gaara, Kankurô's puppet...)?! I don't even want to know how short those episodes must have been to not frighten those poor little kids - and what still sort of remained of the storyline.~_~

We were still speaking of Naruto. Have I mentioned that I like this guy? He's still such an idiot at times, but those special moments don't bother me that much anymore, he has really grown, and not just in power.:)
Another one who has even more grown in my heart is Sakura. I'm still glad that I came to know her first when she already had started to show that she's a ninja as well instead of some random pink girl that has nothing but her Sasukeeeee!<333 in mind. But wow, this is the first time I really watch Naruto from the beginning to the end, in that order, and without skipping episodes somewhere in between. And really does she grow a spine! And as much as any other character develops in that span of time (except for Sasuke, who gets stronger... and regresses into a complete asshole soon after *sigh*), Sakura imho is the most obvious one. I still cringe whenever she acts like the love-sick girl, but that has imho gotten more bearable as well.
I also like Gaara. A lot. At first in the Oooh, Look At That Deathly Beast Behind The Glass fascinating kind of way, but I came to also like him more and more in the same psychological way I like Naruto. (And yeah, I know this is very vague, but I guess I'd have to write a whole essay about them to explain why exactly I like those two *sigh*)
I also like Neji. And Hinata. And Shino. And Kiba. And Lee. And especially Shikamaru ~~despite his chauvinistic remarks~~. And... uh, actually, I guess there's nobody that I don't like at all except for Sasuke when he's in arrogant bastard mode, but that's kind of fascinating too... somehow. He just needs to be smacked on the head hard once in a while like everyone does with Naruto, a good beating can have a pretty good effect as Naruto has proven on several occasions, for example with Neji or Gaara. *g*

But maybe I'm just biased as I have become a real sucker for NejiNaru and GaaNaru (the order of the names has of course nothing to do with any top/bottom preferences), I really like the effect he had on both of them!♥ Though I will admit, for the first one I totally blame a ship manifesto that made me curious and until this pairing wouldn't leave me alone, for the second I blame an interesting character description of a GaaNaru moment in a specific NejiNaru fic that made me cry for MOAR! And I still do.<3
Naruto seems obviously to become one of the guys I'll ship with almost anyone. *sigh* I'd love to read a good NaruSaku to see how they depicted this pairing, and although I'm seriously scared of any fluffy happily ever after endings, maybe I'll even look for some Naruto/Hinata one day. Don't get me wrong, I like Naruto and I like Hinata, I think they have both a very strong impact on each other, but... first I don't see this influence being that strong on both sides, second this pairing is almost too boring for me. And I somehow can't see Naruto in any happily ever after relationship, don't ask me why.^^;
Sakura. Sakura seems to become the second one I'd like to see in different pairings, though I'm most intrigued by Sakura/Lee for now. Not so much because of Lee, as nice as he may be, but because he was the one that triggered her into becoming someone strong as well, and for me he is also the most obvious symbol of her character changes, especially when instead of being disgusted that such a guy like Lee might actually like her, she brings him flowers while he sleeps in hospital and really and sincerely cares for him. Thus, I like Lee for indirectly helping her to grow a beautiful spine.^_^
I'm also slightly intrigued by SasuSaku, though not as much as SasuNaru I must admit.^^; I think they're pretty similar for a lot of things, I can't picture any of them as being a happy fluffy pairing with dream weddings and kids and stuff in the end, but they can be imho very interesting in a psychological point of view when done well. The point is, I guess both fandoms seem to be way too full with TWUE LUV fans if I get this right...;>_> *sigh* But then maybe I should just stop my rambling here, watch the end of the series and try to resume my opinion by then.^^;
Next comes Akatsuki, but that's for later, when I have done my cleaning for today.♥

Also, dear Bleach-Fandom. I like you, you're awesome, but please, can we stop with those canon-pairing rants already? Or am I really the only one who doesn't see any of your favorite pairings become canon in Bleach, ever, regardless whether it's IchiRuki, IchiHime, RenRuki, YoruUra or... well, in this particular case YoruSoi. I just don't think that Bleach is about pairings at all, as much as I like my fanon pairings, and I'd be more than surprised to suddenly see IchiRuki, IchiHime or whatever other pairing happen in the end. So please, dear YoruSoi comm, as much as I love that pairing, stop bitching about those YoruBya rumors. Thank you. It makes my head hurt when it crashes on my desk too often.
But seriously, maybe I'm the one who is biased about that because my favorite pairings in Bleach aren't likely to happen anyway and thus I'm happy that there are no real canon pairings (except for the three obviously married ones). But I immensely enjoy those hints that go in any directions (including het, yuri and yaoi hints ♥) and thus make so many different pairings in all colors and shades plausible. That's one of the reasons why I like Bleach fandom so much I guess, there's no ZOMG TWUE AND ONLY CANON OTP like in any other series, but you can pick anything that suits your tastes, most of the times without being called a dick because you mock that awesomeness of the mangaka's genius with your gross fanon pairings. Well, except for the rabid IchiRuki and IchiHime wankers probably...;>_> *remembers the Bleach section on FandomWank and it's many, many IchiRuki vs IchiHime pairings wars*
And to pick on my doubts again, what do you think, am I really the only who doesn't see any pairings come true in the end? Or am I the only one that is too blinded by her daydreams for recognizing that the only possible last scene in Bleach will probably be a romantic one?^^; *iz confuzzled*

Next stop: Beijing, China!♥

2008-04-13T16:42:14Z

Finally, I bought the air tickets for China a few minutes ago. Which merits a post on it's own and a positive Thumbs Up! My mother and I will leave july 11th for Beijing and return to Germany on august 1st, that will give us about 3 weeks to discover Beijing, Xian and the terracotta army (this has probably been the most important dream for a journey my mother had like... forever), probably also Hong Kong and another region whose name I can't remember while writing this.^^; Anyway, this will be so cool! But I guess you won't be able to escape a lot more details when the time has come anyway... *eg*

Not so cool: I've been a grave victim of spring fever these past weeks. Plus the little virus that the physician discovered in my throat last time I went to see her a few weeks ago although I didn't feel any throat ache at all tried to make itself noticeable. Tried. I never fell really ill, instead I felt groggy and drained and my throat ached for a whole week now, same for the cold that tries to break through but doesn't for real for some odd reasons. As if I ever needed that. Give me one or two days of fever and then let me go, dammit!

...and that resulted in almost not working at all for maybe two weeks now. *headdesk* Instead I stared at my homework, the homework stared back at me, accusingly so, but was never to be done. Great. I'm so glad that some of my friends told me they had the exact same problem right now, that helped me to feel a lot better. Has anyone else a total lack of motivation to work, spontaneous depressions for two or three days and you never know from where those came from anyway? Or you feel just soooo tired and that won't go away never mind how much you sleep? *yaaawns* Yeah, talk from the devil.

Naaah, one more week and I'll have two weeks of ~~exam preparation time~~ holidays, I just have to finish my homework for this week. ~~And try not to watch more Naruto or read more fanfics because I can't concentrate on anything anyway.~_~~~

Did this entry have a point? I'm sure I intended to give it one in the beginning. But using my brain is such a demanding task in my actual state...=_= I'd love to crawl in my bed SO BADLY now and sleep for a whole week or two, non-stop. A girl can dream, eh?

bf_nightingale @ 2008-04-07T22:04:00

2008-04-07T20:32:09Z

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum 18. Geburtstag, rhagi!♥

Ich wünsche dir alles alles Gute, viel Erfolg bei deiner Matura, Glück im Leben und... nein, nicht einschlafen, ich hör schon auf! *g* Wie auch immer und ohne wie deine Oma klingen zu wollen, aber ich bin trotzdem gespannt zu hören wie es sich anfühlt eines Morgens aufzuwachen und festzustellen, dass man plötzlich über Nacht volljährig geworden ist. Tolles Gefühl, oder eher völlig unspektakulär?XD
Ich hoffe du hast schön gefeiert oder feierst noch, egal ob im kleinen oder großen Kreis und lässt dich schön verwöhnen. *g*
Gooott, und wenn ich dran denke, dass ich dich schon seit fast vier Jahren kenne...;>_> *fühlt sich alt*

Dein Geschenk wirst du zu meiner großen Schande aber leider erst mit ein paar Tagen Verspätung bekommen, ABER: Die Fic existiert inzwischen! Sie braucht nur noch einen Schluss, einen cooleren Titel und einiges an Korrektur, und vielleicht etwas mehr Slash.~_~
Während ich dabei bin und noch ein paar Sachen ändern kann, hast du da irgendwelche besonderen Wünsche, was den Slash-Gehalt angeht? Derzeit beschränkt sich das nämlich eher auf deutliches UST, aber ich kann versuchen noch mehr einzubauen wenn du möchtest.:)
Und ja, ich weiß, ich hatte ein Jahr Zeit und hab's nicht rechtzeitig gebacken bekommen, es tut mir wirklich Leid deswegen, auch wenn ich die Schuld größtenteils leider ganz unoriginell aufs RL schieben muss, vor allem was die letzten Monate angeht. Aber dieses Mal existiert sie immerhin...^^; *duck*

bf_nightingale @ 2008-04-01T15:43:00

2008-04-01T14:34:17Z

Naruto Anime, I have few complaints against you.

First, you are too thrilling. I can't do any homework if you won't stop making me want to know so badly what's happening in the next episode.

Second, you may be thrilling in whole, but your flashbacks and key scenes replays? Are not. They're annoying. They make me want to throw my laptop out of the window at times. They make me think that their only purpose is to fill more viewing time. You could have spared at least two complete episodes without repeating yourself over and over and over again, and the fights wouldn't last at least three eternities each either.

Third, I didn't want to ship SasuNaru (or NaruSasu, really, I couldn't care less about that), for serious. I mean, hey, it's mainstream and I like my weird pairings, it's almost boring to ship a pairing that everyone else ships. And I'm sorry to say that, but your SasuNaru fandom has a bad reputation as far as I can tell.
This does not mean that all fans of this pairing are crazy or bad or whatever, it's just that some of the crazy ones are very loud and end far often as a wank feast on Fandom wank, I can tell so far. Which is a pity. Because, why, oh why do Naruto and Sasuke have to behave like the other one were the only other being in their own little world most of the time? Yeah yeah, I know I know, Naruto likes his "Sakura-chan" and Sasuke doesn't stop to think about his brother, but honestly? Except for words? Both of them are only looking and caring for each other, every other person becomes almost non-existent when they go into Rival Mode again.
And then... there was episode 16. Where Rival Mode gained a lot more obvious meaning than just "I just look at you because you're my rival and that's it". Dammit. That episode definitely wasn't fair at all for someone who didn't want to ship you!Uh, recs anyone?

Fourth, let's talk about Sakura. Other than a lot of people it seems, I do not hate Sakura. I have probably been very lucky that the first time I saw her was in her fight against Ino, where she definitely kicked asses! If I had followed the right order of episodes right from the beginning? I would probably hate her. So fortunately I knew that she wouldn't stay that obnoxious pink grrly girl for long, like she was introduced in episode 3.
But still, I'm really annoyed at the way she is represented, even though she isn't the bitch of episode 3 anymore. Did you ever notice that we never saw her fighting before (that's before episode 18 for me)? Yeah, it's great to tell us that she had the best marks ever in ninja academy, that she can use her chakra in the most efficient way ever, that she doesn't need to practice because she gets the idea right from the first try, but I'd love to see her doing a few more things than just stay in the background and admire Sasuke and Naruto fighting, or covering someone even though we know that covering them won't change a thing if ever she was being attacked. They're a 3-person team, so why on earth are the only ones working as a team only Sasuke and Naruto? Why is she always left outside, is never involved in their plans and has no clue whatsoever what kind of strategy they intend to do???
Seriously, Sakura deserves more than just being an annoying and very useless caricature of a love-sick teenager girl, including the pink color and everything that makes clichés squee with glee. Because otherwise I might start to think she's nothing more than a trick from her creator to make also girls read a shônen manga, with no other utility than to make fangirls happy. And that thought is most disturbing!

Fifth, dear Naruto. Stop saying Dattebayo all the time. You know the english comic strip where everybody (and especially Sasuke) get annoyed because you say "Believe it!" all of the time? Same in Japanese. I am annoyed. (But then I'm also very delighted because I finally begin to understand a lot of what they're saying, and I don't even pay that much attention to subs exclusively as before anymore!♥ Better late than never, eh?)

Sixth, while we're at it, stop being stupid, dear Naruto. And to say stupid things. See, I haven't seen Sasuke emoing over his brother for a few episodes now, but you never fail to say or act stupid even once. I still like you very much, but for heaven's sake, I can't wait to see if your future and more mature self in Shippûden has improved in that matter!

Seventh, uuuh, Kakashi, please use your ninja dogs more often. I like your ninja dogs.:)

Eight, I should go and finish some work now so that I can watch a few more episodes later today...;>_>

Ninth, work faster, torrents!

And tenth, why don't I have a Naruto icon by the way? I'm sure I had a few some while ago... And I want a Gai Thumbs-Up icon, including breaking waves in the background and Shining Teeth™! Badly!

bf_nightingale @ 2008-03-30T10:14:00

2008-03-30T08:22:57Z

Aaaargh, hab's gestern vor lauter sinnlosem rumemoen vergessen!^^;

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag ~~nachträglich~~, Styko!♥

Dieses Mal ohne kitschigen Glitzer. Wenn du trotzdem kitschigen Glitzer haben möchtest, hole ich das natürlich sofort nach.;)

Other than that? I decided to ignore today's change to summer time. Because I can ~~not~~. Otherwise it would be way too late now for me to still feel that totally drained...=__= *wants to crawl back to bed again*

Meh.

2008-03-29T19:12:35Z

My life is so annoying these days. Annoying as in My moods aren't stable at all, I'm jumping right from hyper to meh to hyper again, same for my energy and motivation to get things done.
This is not really an emo post. Uh, I think so... Though I'm not really sure about that as well when I come to think of it...

Anyway, I spent those last two days with - uh - doing nothing really productive at all. I guess it started with that sudden feeling in the middle of the week that I don't have that same stress with multiple homework I have to do until tomorrow and that constant AAAAAAARGH in my brainz, uh, you get the picture. Not that I don't have anything to do anymore, on the contrary, but... this sudden feeling that I can finally relax a little (not too much) was probably too much a shock for me.:-\
Then there are those moments when I'm all excited and think that Yosh! Let's get things done ahead so I won't have to stress anymore! But then, don't ask me how or why, I never manage to do even half as much as I want to, if I get anything done at all. Instead I'm practicing to form onigiri in a proper triangle shape (Epic Fail by the way), I go for half a day trip to the opposite side of the city just to go for shopping in that huge asian supermarket. Or I'm doing sudoku. Or check the progress of my torrents every few minutes. Or...
...or get all emo because I suddenly realize that it's OMG SO LATE and I have wasted one more day.
Or I get this sudden DO WANT!!1 feeling that I want a gaming console, like Now! But gaming consoles are way too expensive and I don't have the time to waste on that and I can't play the very majority of 3D games without being sick for the whole day after about five to ten minutes of gaming at the latest and I can't decide on which one I want anyway. And when I realize that no, Nighty-chan can't have her pony right now, Nighty-chan wants to cry big tears and curl up in a corner and eat expensive chocolate ice cream to compensate and do anything but homeworks.;>_> And no, this is definitely not a serious depression, just a childish emo reaction. And annoying as hell, because the sane part of my mind may protest as much as it wants, the chibi!emo!part of me has it's hands pressed hard on it's ears singing LALALAAA CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!11 for way too long now.~___~

And now I'm debating whether I should stand up, leave either the computer or my sudoku and produce some food for this evening, tomorrow and a few more days of this week. I was really looking forward for that Malaysian curry I bought at the Asia store, it's simple as hell (curry out of the tin into a pan, add lots of vegetables (and meat if you want to), let it simmer for a while while cooking some rice, et voilà, have a delicious meal!♥), but now I'm not really hungry at all because I ate too many butter cookies and I got used to skip diner out of sheer laziness this week, and a good meal would be kind of a reward I do not deserve, but then I wouldn't need to cook tomorrow except for fresh rice which means that I could work more and...... *gasps for air*
Uhm, yeah. No, this was not supposed to be a pointless emo post in the beginning, I swear! But then maybe I should do some cooking today, eat something yummy and force myself to not browse the internet or dream of playing games I can't play without a console but watch one of the movies I got to Eastern last week. I could watch Kurosawa Akira's "Ran" that a friend lent me weeks ago. Or "Flying Daggers" that I don't know yet. Or "Bound", which I'm totally loving for the plot and because it's a great movie and such and not because of some random hot lesbians, no, not at all. *shakes head* Or Naruto, that I started to watch from the beginning a few days ago, this time in the right order until the end, or that's what I hope. *suppresses the urge to check the progress of her monster 37k GB torrent with 220 episodes once again*
Or I could just stop writing that much nonsense, get my ass from that comfy chair, put the cookies away and start doing something!

...

*sigh*
Ok, go for cooking and a movie I guess, and then going to bed as early as I can, without the laptop on my knees, thank you very much. Oh, and not to forget: The alarm clock next morning.;>_>

[/Random Whining]

Offline time

2008-03-20T22:12:14Z

Okay, I think it's time to say good night and baibai for a few days now. I'm going to crawl to bed right now, read the Spirou comic I bought today ♥, and I won't go anywhere near Livejournal tomorrow. For this reason, in case anyone still missed that entry. I'll still check my emails though, or at least until my mother arrives from Germany to pick me up for the week-end.
And then... I'll be away until monday anyway, somewhere in the Normandy at my late grandparents house, ô the joy. I hope the heaters will work while we're there, otherwise I won't be able to turn back online at all, you can't type or even move the mouse with frozen limbs after all.^^; But it may be for the last time I'll ever stay there over night, so I might just as well enjoy the last nostalgic moments of the back-torturing mattresses. *wry grin*

Good night, behave while I'm gone, and take care that SUP won't break the internets once for all while I'm away.^^;

Ah, and in case anyone is interested in reading that, Happy Eastern of course!:)

Comparing to this news, I feel so bad about wanking about LJ at all...

2008-03-20T08:48:26Z

I want to put the copypasta of my latest brother's email in here. I must admit to my greatest shame, I haven't been seriously watching any news for almost a week now, and I usually rarely take the time watch more than two news channels per day (Euronews for a global world view and BFM tv to know what's going on in France), and let's not even talk about buying a newspaper like the Frankfurter Allgemeine and actually read it. That's why, well, this came quite as a shock to me:
(By the way, as some of you might know or not know, my brother is studying economics and chinese in Germany, but he has been an exchange student in China for more than one and a half year now, and for the moment he's in Kunming in Yunnan, the south-west of China.)

Hello everybody,

I'm sending this email to everybody on my contact list because i think it is important, if you are not interested sorry to spam your email inbox.

I just got an email from a friend from chengdu (west china, bordering region to tibet) which i send to you in the original version (see the bottom of the page), i just erased my friends name. please also have a look in the zip file attached, it describes what a tourist experienced in lahsa these days.

short summary for all those who didn't follow the news recently:
last weekend anti-chinese-protests of tibeteans started which escalated into riots. according to the chinese government at least 13 people died until now, according to the tibetean exile government over 100 died.
the protests started in tibet and spread over to the bordering provinces of sichuan, gansu and qinghai of which huge parts used to be tibet as well. a lot of tibeteans live in this area as well.
according to an article that i just read (http://www.welt.de/politik/article1817231/Hunderte_Tibeter_stuermen_chinesische_Stadt.html) a thousand tibetens attacked a chinese city in gansu and hissed the tibetean flag.

according to the chinese media everything is under control, but many websites were closed like youtube, several hongkong and taiwan newspapers. bbc and cnn broadcastings are blackened out. the chinese media are insufficient and tell about the case perhaps on page eighteen and not on page one like f.e. german medias.
french medias reported it only from tuesday on on a broader base since there were communal elections in france this weekend.
hong kong and taiwan newspapers report about iton their first pages as well though it isn't today anymore on hong kongs "the standard". british and american newspapers also report on their first page about it.
feel free to inform yourself what the media say.
an interesting article to be found on taiwans newspaper "taipei times": http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/03/20/2003406291

i just want to give you an "nearly-insiders" view of the situation.

according to my friend in chengdu there have been several protests in chengdu as well and apparently a bomb exploded on one bus, perhaps even a second one. if the rumeurs can be trusted 3 people died. there is no reporting about those cases according to my knowledge. the city seems liked sieged, police troops are present everywhere also according to another friend of mine from chengdu.

in my quarter in kunming (capital of yunnan province in the south west of china, yunnan also has an important tibetean population) nothing is to be felt except if you read the international newspapers. i've seen only one article on page 18 of a chinese newspaper so far. it was very short.
according to rumeurs there have also been protests in kunming but not in my quarter so far.
another newspaper of the "世界报 world newspaper (i think)" reported totally wrong facts, that the international press is also against the tibetean protests. it emphasized that the world community stands behind china. i will not say for any other thing wether it is right or wrong, but this is absolutly wrong. also taiwan and hong kong critisized the happenings in tibet, the potential new taiwanese president Ma even thought publicly about boycotting the olympic games.

just for your information

sincerely yours
[name of my brother removed]

Bonjour,

ici en Chine, a Chengdu (Sichuan) nous n'avons aucune information, seulement des rumeurs. Par exemple, le quatier tibétain de Chengdu est pris tous les jours dans des révoltes, et chose visible, les flics comme l'armée font le siège dans le centre ville. Si nous l'avions oublié, le gouvernement nous le rappelle: le gouvernement quadrille et passe le Tibet au karcher. Nous sommes maintenant presque sûr qu'une bombe a explosé dans le bus 92 à Chengdu avant-hier. Mais voilà, ce ne sont que des rumeurs, trois morts et deux grièvement blessés. Les informations n'en parlent pas mais tout le monde l'a vu, les rumeurs se recoupent...
Je suis en contact avec une journaliste de France Info et le consul de France, et les journalistes étrangers ne savent même pas que la situation à Chengdu dégénère sérieusement, que deux bombes ont sans doute déjà explosé.
il ne faut pas l'oublier, les tibétains ne sont pas qu'au Tibet et les inssurections se passent un peu partout en Chine. Le gouvernement est dépassé et réagi avec violence et la place au dialogue est impossible.

Je vous joins un texte écrit par un touriste anonyme qui se trouvait à Lhassa la semaine dernière. C'est un témoignage que vous devez faire circuler.

Merci de tenir au courant les gens que vous connaissez qui sont en Chine et qui ne peuvent pas avoir accès à ces informations.
Cette censure d'information est très frustrante, surtout lorsque nous sommes habitués à en recevoir en masse.

Il ne faut pas croire que le dialogue est possible, mais il faut que vous réagissez en Europe, soyez avides d'informations car la situation est terrible pour les tibétains, le ménage a déjà bien commencé.

Faîtes circuler ce mail,

J'espère que tout le monde va bien

My more or less accurate translation of the french part:

Hello

Here in China, in Chengdu, Sichuan, we don't have any informations, just rumours. For example the tibetain district of Chengdu is involved every day in riots, and clearly the cops and the army have occupied down-town. In case we had forgotten, the gouvernment reminds us: the government polices and they take radical actions in the tibet. We are now almost sure that a bomb exploded in the bus 92 in Chengdu two days ago. But here we are, these are only rumours, three deadly victims and two severely injured persons. The news don't tell anything about that, but everybody has seen it, the rumours coincide...
I'm in contact with a journalist from France Info and the consul of France, and the foreign journalists don't even know that the situation in Chengdu is seriously escalating, that two bombs have without doubts already exploded.
On shouldn't forget that Tibetains aren't only located in Tibet and the revolts are happening almost everywhere in China. The gouvernment is out of date and reacts with violence, the dialogue is impossible.

I'll join a report written by an anonymous tourist who was in Lhasa last week. It's an testimony that you should make circulate.

Thank you for informing the people you know who are in China and who can't have any access to those informations.
This censure of information is very frustrating, especially when you are used to having them en masse.

You mustn't think that dialogue is possible, but you have to react in Europe, be anxious about informations as the situation for the Tibetains is terrifying, the cleansing has already started.

Make this email circulate

I hope everyone is fine.

(Please tell me if the translation is fine, I'm not doing this everyday after all and I don't want to give a wrong impression in my translation...)

Download of the attachment via Megaupload
Yousendit
Sendspace

Tell me if you don't like Megaupload and I'll find something else, that's no problem at all.

And now I'm going to watch the news on tv and see if I can take some time to read the papers. *sighs and ogles at her homework*

There are also news on the LJ board, but I'll just link you to read them by yourself in the the_lj_herald and the ljspeaks comms, I'm not in the mood to even scowl at what those jerks are finding as sad excuses concerning their actions those last days.

And by the way, feel free to link and or to spread the word if you want to. I can't guarantee being capable of involving in long political discussions, but I'm still interested in spreading the word.

HATE HATE HATE

2008-03-19T14:25:28Z

I originally wanted to write how good I felt today.
I wanted to write that I feel so very light and free because I have done all the translations for this week and I can now finally relax a little. Not that I don't have any homeworks left of course, but it's just way more relaxed now.
I wanted to write how much I enjoyed finally being able to walk to university instead of taking the urbain train, I've been ill long enough.
I wanted to describe how beautiful the new walking tour to university I took today was, with splendid old parisian houses everywhere, and how amazing the rays of sunlight were on those buildings even though it was that cold I had to snuggle in my favorite scarp again.
I wanted to tell you how much I missed to have the time and energy to spend almost two hours preparing my lunch, yummy japanese chicken curry rice!♥
And just wanted to write how much in general I liked the day today.

Instead, I will just have to annoy you once more with an angry rant. And because I'm still that utterly speechless, I will just link to the posts in question:

First of all, this post in ljspeaks for a very good overview of what's very very wrong with SUP. And if you're still not nauseated yet, Here you go for the complete version, translated from Russian.

I am still speechless. I have absolutely no idea what I should say. I still can't stop shaking my head in disbelief, that users, never mind whether they have never dropped a single cent to support the site financially, watch ads or have directly paid for their right to stay and enjoy their time here, some of them for lots and lots of years, are called "the enemy". Because they dare not to be happy with whatever the god-like owners of this site are doing in the past, present and future. And express their unhappiness with acts of terrorism, like actively trying to destroy the business, blackmail them with a strike threat and... yeah. I'm beginning to wonder why they didn't just ban permanently everyone how had the bad idea to leave a comment on the last news post to express this criminal unhappiness.

Once again, I will not leave LJ now and today. My paid account will still last for a while now (and now I'm not only regretting that I renewed it only recently, but literally slapping myself for that now!), so unless they kick me out, I'll stay for that while. ~~And try not to lose hope that miracles may happen after all.~~ But I think I'm going to mirror my lj probably on InsaneJournal anytime soon, because that's what everyone seems to recommend most at the moment, or in case I find another blogging service that's even better create another backup journal. It's not only that I don't want to give LJ any single more cent, but I don't want to stay here either for any longer time than necessary if users (customers!!!) are called the enemy and that they fucking don't care whatever we think or say as long as we don't behave like happy little sheep who won't follow the sheppard or the sheepdogs blindly and no with not one single meeeeh of criticism.

I don't know if some of you might think I'm overreacting. As a disclaimer, I will once more repeat that I think it's a perfectly valid business decision to make new accounts ads-only unless paid. I hate it, but it's their business, it's their decision, they can do whatever they want. But what infuriates me is the way they're treating their custome... no, wait, the little internet parasites that are lucky enough to be tolerated here - as long as they say yes and amen to every change (whether for the good or bad, no, scratch that, there is no bad since everything is for the good) and certainly don't protest when they don't like a thing.

And in the (unlikely) case anyone missed my last post, here be the post about the strike.

LJ users' strike?

2008-03-18T20:11:49Z

Second post for today (ignore me, I'm not really here sitting at my computer, no really!), but I thought this was definitely worth posting:

Ganked from tanrien, although I see that there are more posts coming from other people as well now...?

For one day, Friday, March 21, make no posts. Make no comments. Let there be NO new content added to LJ. SUP obviously does not realize that Basic users have given something of value to them, that it is content that drives the site. So, for one 24-hour period, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT, let's see how many people we can get to pledge to contribute NO CONTENT. This will create a permanent downward spike in the daily-posts statistics, a permanent reminder of the power of the userbase. Full information at The Fox's Den. (Also have a look at other related entries in her journal.) SPREAD THE WORD.

Of course the best thing to do would be not even to load any livejournal page, to ignore lj for the whole day. Because viewing ads also is a form of activity, especially the one bringing money, eh?

I hope that schattenstern doesn't mind if I link to her excellent summary of last and this years' lj wanks? I'll delete it otherwise.

I'm posting this because, yes, I'm pissed off with lj. I was pissed off last year as well, but both for the ~~Strikethrough~~ and Boldthrough I still hoped that I would never be concerned personally, it was more a general anger for the way 6A treated the users. Because, hey, it's their company after all, they bought LJ, they can do ads as much as they want, they can ban users if they don't like having their stuff on their site yadda yadda yadda.
But. They can't hide things and hope that no one will ever notice, they can't not answer to uncomfortable questions, they can't treat their customers like complete retards.
And SUP seems to be doing possibly even worse. If you don't know what I mean, just follow the links or read the latest news posts, or ask me if you still don't know what I mean.
And, okay, I will admit, I'm also majorly pissed off because they disabled the option for new basic accounts, I fucking hate plus accounts, pardon my french there. If someone has no problems to see ads on their journal, that's fine for them, I'm sure lots of people don't mind, so why should I? Unfortunately, it's not their business alone. That's why ads on other peoples' journals? Okay, I don't mind, I don't need to see them anyway. Spying on other peoples' journals? You'll wonder why I don't like that at all...

Translating stuff can be fun too once in a while...XD

2008-03-18T18:00:33Z

The legendary conbini*
let's go search for it
the legendary conbini
let's go and search it

In this wide world
in this ordinary house
the bread of courage and
the tin of wisdom
that's what they sell

The clicketyclick of life
the stew of wonders
and don't forget the magic eraser

And while we decipher the map of adventure
it's the begin of the quest of heroes
let's go search for
the legendary conbini

The conbini of heaven
let's go search for it
the conbini of heaven,
let's go and search it

Somewhere in this world
in this ordinary house
the bubble gum of force and
the chocolate of healing
that's what they sell

Flying socks
Mystery panties
and don't forget the fireworks of ice-cream

Pour of the hot water of adventure three parts
and it's ready, the instant carriage

Let's go and search for it
the legendary conbini

*Short for convenience store

For more laughing (at the original song), please download here (the link under "Play for PC")

And now that I've had my good share of a laugh, I should kick my butt and translate the (less fun) rest of my homework for tomorrow and maybe rearrange the song text a little more yet. I'm sure there are also a few grammar and translation mistakes left, but it's still fun as it is now I think. *g*